Ye Qingchen nodded and said, "Second Brother, that stone is no ordinary rock. Someone below the Martial Spirit Realm couldn’t possibly shatter it in a single move."

Zhu Liang waved his hand with a smile. "Junior Brother, nothing is absolute. If I said I could shatter that boulder with the power of an Eighth-Layer Martial Master, would you believe me?"

Ye Qingchen stared at Zhu Liang in surprise, his first reaction being disbelief. It was common knowledge that a vast gulf separated the Martial Master and Martial Spirit realms, let alone someone with only the Spiritual Energy of an Eighth-Layer Martial Master. However, Ye Qingchen also knew his Second Brother wouldn’t make empty boasts, so he nodded uncertainly.

Seeing the doubt in his eyes, Zhu Liang didn’t explain further. Instead, he walked over to another boulder and said, "Junior Brother, watch closely."

After he spoke, Zhu Liang slowly began to gather Spiritual Energy in his fist. Using his Dual Pupil Martial Soul, Ye Qingchen could clearly see that Zhu Liang was indeed only using the Spiritual Energy intensity of an Eighth-Layer Martial Master. The difference was that when Ye Qingchen gathered Spiritual Energy, it enveloped nearly his entire fist. In contrast, Zhu Liang had concentrated all his Spiritual Energy into a single, needle-sized point on his knuckle. This meant that with the same amount of Spiritual Energy, Zhu Liang’s technique was over a hundred times more condensed than Ye Qingchen’s.

He suddenly understood something. Concentrating Spiritual Energy to a single point could increase its instantaneous explosive power, but the effect would be focused on one spot. At most, it could pierce the boulder, but shattering it should be impossible.

Zhu Liang offered no explanation and simply raised his fist, punching toward the massive stone. His fist touched the boulder for only an instant before pulling back. On the surface, the rock looked completely unharmed, leaving Ye Qingchen baffled.

Zhu Liang pointed to a tiny, almost imperceptible hole in the rock. "Junior Brother, observe the rock’s interior carefully."

Ye Qingchen nodded and used his Dual Pupil Martial Soul to inspect the boulder. To his astonishment, he saw that the energy Zhu Liang had gathered was now suspended inside it. It was so condensed that the mass of Spiritual Energy had been compressed to the size of a sesame seed. The point of light then began to dart about violently within the stone, destroying its internal structure. Moments later, the inside of the rock was riddled with holes, though it still appeared intact from the outside.

BOOM!

With a sudden loud bang, the point of light exploded, and the massive stone crumbled into dust.

"This... this..." Ye Qingchen was so excited he was at a loss for words, pointing at the fragments of the rock.

Zhu Liang smiled and explained, "Junior Brother, this is called Dark Force. You compress your Spiritual Energy, strike it into an enemy’s body, and then detonate it from within to cause destruction."

Ye Qingchen nodded blankly. Although he had seen everything clearly with his Dual Pupil Martial Soul, he still didn’t understand the underlying principle. After Zhu Liang demonstrated it again, Ye Qingchen gradually began to grasp the concept.

Zhu Liang smiled and told him, "Junior Brother, don’t be impatient. Truthfully, Dark Force is a rather impractical skill. It’s useless against weaker opponents, and against stronger ones, the effort often isn’t worth the reward. What you truly need to master is how to compress your Spiritual Energy to its absolute limit and trigger that unexpected final explosion! If you combine that with the attack methods you’ve practiced these last two days, your offensive power will surely multiply!"

Ye Qingchen nodded thoughtfully before finding another boulder and resuming his practice. Zhu Liang had now taught him all of these combat techniques. Given Ye Qingchen’s aptitude, Zhu Liang felt there was no longer a need for him to stay. After saying his goodbyes, he returned to Shenmu Academy alone. Before leaving, however, he reminded Ye Qingchen not to lose track of time. Elder Yang had agreed to personally guide his cultivation, and such an opportunity was rare. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

After Zhu Liang left, Ye Qingchen began to practice day and night. However, his own Spiritual Energy had already been continuously refined by the Fen Tian Earth Fire to an incredible degree of purity. Compressing Spiritual Energy that was already so pure was immensely difficult.

Ye Qingchen understood that compressing his energy was a skill he could practice slowly once he figured out the method. The most urgent task was to master how to detonate his Spiritual Energy at will and at the right moment. Through numerous attempts, he discovered that to do this, he had to leave a trace of his Soul Power within the attack to act as a trigger. For anyone else, this would be a fool’s errand, but for Ye Qingchen, an Alchemist who also possessed the Dual Pupil Martial Soul, it wasn’t so difficult.

After a dozen or so experiments, he had mastered the trick in his own way. Although his method was worlds apart from what Zhu Liang had taught, the effect was largely the same. In fact, due to his unique circumstances, Ye Qingchen found that his own method of control was even more effective. He spent the remaining time honing his energy compression technique.

Through this constant cultivation, Ye Qingchen successfully broke through to the Seventh Layer of the Martial King Realm on the final day. Less than ten days had passed since his last breakthrough, a speed others couldn’t even imagine.

But to Ye Qingchen, it felt perfectly natural. He was already at the peak of the Sixth Layer of the Martial King Realm. Combined with the fourth-grade Spirit Gathering Array etched inside him and the massive consumption and replenishment of Spiritual Energy over the past few days, his body had been pushed to its limits. A breakthrough was simply the logical next step.

As for his Spiritual Energy compression, his attacks were now at least five to six times more condensed than before. Ye Qingchen estimated that his current combat power was at least five times greater!

He checked the time and realized it was time to return to Shenmu Academy. If he kept that eccentric old man, Elder Yang, waiting, there was no telling how he would be tormented.

What Ye Qingchen didn’t expect, however, was that when he returned to Shenmu Academy, his senior brothers and sisters were all gone. Only Elder Yang was lounging in the dean’s courtyard, leisurely basking in the sun.

Seeing Ye Qingchen return, Elder Yang spoke in a languid tone, "A month and a half of hard training... you must be exhausted. Rest up today. We’ll start our training tomorrow."

Ye Qingchen nodded, then asked curiously, "Where are my senior brothers and sisters? What have they gone to do?"